21/11/2013 Riga supermarket roof collapse
Background events 'The building its self' Riga's local media had stated on November 22nd that the building, which was rented from the Latvian construction company Re&Re, had been awarded a national architecture prize after its completion in 2011. According to a press release by Re&Re on November the 25th, the Maxima store had opened in 2011 and was named one of the top 3 Latvian national architectural works of merit. A garden and outdoor recreational park was being built on the supermarket's roof as of November 2013. The building's plans had been contractually developed by KUBS Ltd. and further developed and overseen by Homburg Valda (AKA- The Homburg Group). It cost around €1.4 million, with 1.16 million euros (812 000 lats) coming from Re&Re its self, which it expected expected to recover within seven to eight years, then said Maxima (Latvia)'s corporate leader Gintaras Jasinski. 'The companies involved ' The 21 year old Maxima Group supermarket chain is a Lithuanian retail chain with shops in all three Baltic states, Poland and Bulgaria. There were recent plans to set up a few outlets in near by places in Russia. The building was rented from the constructors Re&Re and was planned out by KUBS Ltd., overseen by The Homburg Group and legaly owned by SIA Tineo. The firm SIA Tineo is an offshore company that is owned by the Maxima group. The company also initially claimed it was a tenant of the building. The part of the building that has now collapsed is owned by SIA Tineo, but originally was owned by The Homburg Group, which still owns the adjacent apartment building, which is still standing and undamaged. Representatives from Re&Re" architect office KUBS Ltd., and construction supervisory authorities were also quickly at the scene on Nov 21st. The disaster 'The background to the desaster' 'The event its self' Riga's new Maxima supermarket in the Zolitūde district's Priedaines street started to collapse at about 16:20 UTC on November 21st, 2013, as rain collected in a partly built roof garden. It was planned that it would have a layer of soil 20–30 centimeters (7.9–12 in) thick on the roof. According to witnesses accounts a fire alarm was set off and there were announcements made that the store should be evacuated at 14:21 UTC. Shortly afterward, security personnel canceled the alert and blamed welding works in the basement, which was not possible due to the nature of the fire alarm according to its manufacturer. The company's spokesman said that dust probably did not set it off, because it was situated in the basement by water pipes. It was never resolved by the firms technician due to the sores subsequent collapse. About 15 minutes later, a loud bang was heard, and water began flowing from a broken minor overhead fire sprinkler pipe. At 15:41 UTC both the store's CCTV cameras and eyewitness noticed the collapsing roof over the checkout counters, especially over counters 6, 7 and 8. Suddenly the electrically operated glass doors also slammed shut and locked shut, but not shattering the glass panes with in them as some initial reports claimed, as the first section of the roof caved. Energy consultant Ērika Jūlija Beča said on late on Nov' 23rd, the panes shattered as the rubble fell in to the store and/or some people broke there way out though them. About 20 minutes later another part of the roof caved in killing 3 firemen who had just joined the rescue effort. Sections of the wall had continued to collapse during the evening, further disrupting ongoing rescue efforts. Witnesses had reported that the roof collapsed over the checkout counters. Latvian television and radio also reported that the roof also had collapsed over the dairy products and fish sections at about 16:20 UTC. A second collapsed at 17:04 UTC, thus trapping several firefighters. Representatives from Re&Re" architect office KUBS Ltd., and construction supervisory authorities were also quickly at the scene on Nov 21st. The city's rescue services believed, as of 19.30 UTC on November 22nd, that a total of about 500sq m (5,300sq ft) of roof caved in. The 27 year old British pilot Paul Tribble, was shopping in the store and survived the incident. The middle aged German tourist Kurt Heim, also narrowly escaped as he exited in to the car park a few minuets earlier and thus also survived the collapse. The Maxima board member Gintaras Jasinskas had told the AFP news agency on Nov' 22 that 30 employees were in the store at the time of the original collapse. The store became a 1,500 square meter (16,150 square feet) large pile of rubble. Another fireman reportedly injured by a minor co lapse as he was clearing rubble in the early hours of Nov' 23. A 4th collapse also occurred at 15:52 on Nov' 23rd due to earlier damage to supporting structures, but no one was harmed by it. Marcis Liors Skadmanis, who is chairman of the Latvian-British Chamber of Commerce had both his father and 23 year old sister were killed in event. He said that the accident was a horrific national tragedy and brought suffering to many families on Nov' 25th. The developer of the adjacent apartment building put postponed any additional construction work, but the apartment building itself was not damaged or endangered in the incident. 'The rescue effort' 40 Latvian troops and some bulldozers from the Ādaži military camp in Vidzeme Region (Livonian: Vidumō) joined in the rescue efforts in the evening of Nov' 22nd. The deputy head of rescue services, Normunds Plegermanis, had said emergency teams were faced difficult working conditions early that day. Rescue Service spokeswoman Viktorija Sembele said in the afternoon of Nov 23rd that "The firefighters are still working to find people. They are putting away the constructions and still approximately 600 square meters of this collapsed area should be searched through.". Rescue co-coordinators stated late on Nov' 23rd that “Rescue teams are working in shifts replacing each other every 20-30 minutes as the rescue work is physically challenging.". After the second collapse, only five firefighters were reportedly allowed to inside at a time. Rescuers use at least one silent period was used to listen for signs of life among the rubble, such as groaning but they only some cell phones ringing. Riga Mayor Nils Usakovs ordered and official investigation and tweeted that around five people might be still trapped, but rescue teams reckoned it was or 16 by 18.00 UTC on Nov' 22rd. Local ambulance chief Armands Plorins warned on the afternoon of Nov' 23rd that a combination of the cold, damp and the passage of time would slowly reduce chances of survival, but added "But, of course, hope always remains." Police helped rescuers by created a map based on data taken from security cameras that were showing where the shoppers located at during the tragic collapse. A official representative of the paramedics at the site said to press that the 7 missing people were either unaccounted for or dead and buried under the rubble. It was stated that the corpses found earlier were do badly damaged that anyone that was not found was almost certainly dead due to their catastrophic injures by this time. The rescue operation were officially ended about 17:00 UTC November 23rd, because of a third structural collapse had just occurred and thus fatally compromised the structural integrity of the roof. The rescue was restarted in the afternoon of Nov' 24th after officials had consulted building experts. The last parts rescue operation were finally wound down in the evening of Nov' 25th. No more bodies were found and the 7 missing people were found to have escaped the building earlier. A total of 557 search and rescue personnel, including 40 soldiers, had taken part in the rescue operations. 'Hospitals involved' *Pauls Stradins Clinical University Hospital. *Riga East Clinical university hospital. *Riga Second hospital. *Traumatology and Orthopedic hospital. *Clinical University Hospital for children. Both blood donors and prospective donors turned up on mass at the blood donor center on the morning of Nov' 22 and about an hour later, the donation center tweeted its thanks and said it had successfully collected enough blood to replenish the local hospital's stocks. 'Overseas aid' Russia, Estonia and Lithuania all offered rescue teams and equipment to assistance local rescuers, but Latvia declined. Possible causes Latvia's Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, who visited the scene on Nov' 22nd, said: "The criminal process has started about violating building standards." Later Latvia's Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis stated to Latvian TV that it was “It is clear that there has been a problem with fulfillment of construction requirements,” to him that there there had been a problem concerning the lack of obedience to building regulations. Local resident Gatis Smagars blamed "Bags of soil and cobblestones piled on the roof" on Nov 21st. The owner of the company HND Grupa which was responsible for the building's construction, Ivars Sergets, said on Nov 22nd the collapse may have been caused by an overload by too much stuff or building materials being put on to weaker parts of the roof. The Estonian construction engineer, Toomas Kaljas, came up with the properstion that connections between the horizontal bars that held the roof in suite were inadequately designed and were not up to the job in hand on November 24th. According to Maxima staff and contractors on Nov' 24th, the building had been dangerously unstable for about a year, the storage lockers were flooded out at one point and that fine dust had fooled the fire alarm in to thinking it was detecting smoke. The construction workers said that that had biults the site had told Maxima that the foundation was cracked and needed to be reinforced. They had added extra support columns under the ceiling of the storage room, which mad at one point copleatly flooded out along with the staff locker. The fire alarm was frequently going off without good cause to do so. Lilita Ozola, an engineer teaching at Latvian University of Agriculture, blamed the trusses and said the builders should have got planning permission to add the new desinge and/or the roof garden on Nov' 26th. Vilis Students, the current vice director of the Latvian Fire Safety and Civil Defence College and who participated in the rescue work said that the concrete components seemed to be unexpectedly fragile. He also quoted on Nov' 25th "I am no specialist, but we could break the roof components with hammers and pliers. During exercises with concrete objects, we usually had to use a jackhammer." Media and expert opinion have leaned towards blaming lax observance and enforcement of the building codes and government budget cuts. The aftermath Shortly after the collapse several building and structural engineering experts cited abolishing state building inspection service and structural safety standards as part of a ill conceved EU enforced 2009 budget cut. 'Political fallout' Shortly after the collapse several building and structural engineering experts cited abolishing state building inspection service and structural safety standards as part of an ill concived EU enforced 2009 budget cut during the global economic crisis of 2008-2012. It was done under the the government of Valdis Dombrovskis and mayor of Riga Nils Ušakovs, who as a member of the Saeima party, voted for it in parliament. Nils Ušakovs also ordered the inspection of all building projects carried out in Latvia by the firm Re&Re. A criminal investigation was launched late on Nov' 21st and a day of national morning was declared. Some local officials have indicated that the roof garden was possibly illegal and put extra stress on the roof. The Mayor of Riga, Nils Usakovs, abandoned his holiday and returned to Riga on Nov' 22nd. He gave an order on November 22nd that safety officials to inspect all building projects carried out by Re&Re. There was were 3 days of morning in Latvia and 1 day in Estonia and Lithuanian starting on the 23rd. Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis said To reporters "This tragic event has shocked the nation, it is unspeakable loss to the families of the victims and the entire state," Nov' 25th. He pledged to investigate the incident thoroughly and to punish those who were responsible for it taking place. Latvian President, Andris Bērziņš also told reporters the tragedy was an act of "mass murder", "murder of defenseless people" and that the "perpetrators should be arrested" on Nov 25th. He then ordered an independent equerry by industry experts. Latvia’s president stated that the collapse was a Later The BBC’s Riga correspondent then reported that he wanted an overseas investigation “led by independent investigators from abroad - implying that powerful business interests in Latvia are too closely entwined with politics to ensure a fair and honest investigation.". The Latvian prime minister, Valdis Dombrovskis, had resigned from his job on Nov’ 27, and took overall responsibility for the incident. He had been considering after the tragic event had unflolded and had made a finaly made up his mind after a meeting with the Latvian president, but denied the president had told him to quit his job or had sacked him. There have been calls for Rega’s mayor also to step down from his political office due to reports about his involvement in the affair. 'Corporate fallout' Re&Re is cooperating with all investigating authorities and handed all the necessary information and documents connected to the collapsed shopping mall to the authorities in the evening of November 21st. Vikom Industry, who had manufactured and installed structural steel member distributor trusses agreed to help the official enquiery on Nov 22nd and present it’s manufacturer's certificate for the bolts that it had bought from Eurobolts on February 3, 2011, for LVL 290,. They asked Eurobolts for further certification about the bolts in question as Eurobolts owner and CEO Olga Romanova did no present any new information about the bolts. Olga Romanova later told the LETA news agency “I do not know for what purpose these bolts were bought by Vikom Industry, because I have 300 customers and no one ever tells me why they buy screws – they simply provide the necessary size and strength degree. The manufacturer's certificate has been requested for this specific party in question, although we do not have to provide such certificates under the law – a statement of conformity is usually enough,” and “The quantity was not large – 32 size 16 bolts, and size 20 bolts of various length, the quantity of which I do not remember,” . She also claimed only to know that Vikom Industry had chosen to buy bolts in sizes 16 and 20 with 8th degree of physical strength on February 3, 2011. Both Re&Re and Maxima offered their official sympathies and apologies on the for the 21/11/2013 Riga supermarket roof collapse 23rd. Maxima agreed to pay compensation to the victims and families of the dead on Nov' 24th and promised a full inspection of all its stores on Nov' 25th. Vladislavs Podgurskis, a representative of Vikom Industry Ltd., provisionally blamed the bolts joining the trusses together on the 25th. Vikom Industry request data on the bolts from the supplier on the 25th, Eurobolts, but they had none. The owner and CEO of Eurobolts, Olga Romanova, said on Nov' 26th that the company had no information on the bolts used and that the bolts had pulled out of the cement rater than breaking off. Vilis Students, the current vice director of the Latvian Fire Safety and Civil Defence College and who participated in the rescue work said that the concrete components seemed to be unexpectedly fragile. He also quoted on Nov' 25th "I am no specialist, but we could break the roof components with hammers and pliers. During exercises with concrete objects, we usually had to use a jackhammer." In a a statement on Nov' 25th by a press representative of the architect bureau that designed the building, KUBS Ltd.. They indicate that suspect metal joint components were supplied by the company Vikom Industry. That day Re&Re suggested that the engineering firm Arrup Group could do an independent investigation of the firm if they felt up to it and every on else was willing for it to happen. An inspection by the Riga City Construction Authority speared on it’s website during the Nov' 27th stating that only 3 sites were acting contery to the law and that their wrongfulness was to with official paperwork, not building integrity or workers' safety issues. 'Public opinion' A public floral shrine made of flowers donated by the public was created within hours of the accident occurring. Maxima stores were soon boycotted due a mixture of anger after the event its self and relating to other earlier reports about corporate exploitation of thire workforce and poor product quality levels. There were some other protests over these issues in Lithuania at the same time. Nils Ušakovs said on Nov’ 27th that the Maxima building was to be knocked down and replaced with public a memorial dedicated to the catastrophe. 'Legal fall out and fiscal compensation claims' Latvia's Interior Ministry said the families of the 3 dead firefighters would receive 50,000 LVL ($95,600) in mortality compensation. The medical and pyciatric treatment for rescue workers injured in rescue would would also be paid for by the government. Maxima agreed to pay compensation to the victims and families of the dead on Nov' 24th and promised a full inspection of all its stores on Nov' 25th. 'Media interest' http://www.db.lv/%7C Db.lv's "disposable list" group inspected 12 recent construction sites included the Latvian State Revenue Service of the Republic, clinics Gaiļezers Hospital, the Latvian National Museum of Art building in Riga, Krišjāņa Valdemāra 10A, and the then 'multifunctional' Center Acropolis on Nov 27th. The final death and injury tolls It is apparently worst disaster in Latvia since the 1950 sinking of the Soviet steamer [[Soviet Steamer Mayakovsky| Mayakovsky]] in Riga which resulted in the deaths of 147 people. The Leta news agency said it was known to be more delay than a fire at a Latvian nursing home in 2007 which had killed 25 people. The city's rescue confirmed in the morning of Nov 24 that 36 people were injured, of which 27 are being treated in hospital. They reckoned that there were 7 people still unaccounted for. They also confirmed that there were 54 are deaths (51 Latvians, 2 Russians and 1 Armenian), but only 47 were confirmed to be deceased as of 14.30 UTC on November 24th. The funerals for the 3 slain Latvian State Fire and Rescue Service officers are to be held on Wed, Nov' 27th. 'Deceaced' The list of the deceased has been officially was published by the Latvian State Police.http://vp.gov.lv/?&relid=14241,http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/legislation/?doc=84056 'Latvian dead' *Aleksandrova, Tamāra *Apsīte, Leonija *Arabela, Sandra *Atarinova, Žanna *Beļakova, Valentīna *Bļinovs, Iļja *Bondarenko, Anna *Bonus, Edvīns *Burdukeviča, Jūlija *Burvis, Andrejs *Ciba, Ludmila *Čerņenoks, Ēriks *Fadejeva, Gaļina *Gruzde, Elga *Guseva, Tamāra *Gutāne, Larisa *Gutāns, Juris *Hitruka, Marina *Igumnova, Natalja *Indriksons, Dāvids *Ivčenko, Tatjana *Ižiks, Sergejs *Jesipenko, Jeļena *Jesipenko, Mihails *Kirillova, Svetlana *Koževņikova, Ļubova *Ļeha, Svetlana *Malaja, Ņina *Meļihova, Vera *Mičuna, Svetlana *Mizula, Valērijs *Ničiporenko, Pavlo *Novikovs, Nikolajs *Pavelko, Santa *Petrovska, Jeļena *Petruņins, Aldis *Piņķe, Violeta *Poluhina, Olga *Reinfelds, Edgars *Skadmane, Daina *Skadmanis, Jānis *Skrinda, Ina *Smirnova, Viktorija *Šteinītis, Vilnis *Teusa, Vera *Teuss, Mihails *Tihonova, Raisa *Tračuma, Nadežda *Troicka, Valentīna *Vovka, Viktorija *Zarečanska, Žanete 'Russian dead' *Zhilinauskas, Rita (Russian) *Aksjutins, Jurijs (Russian) 'Armenian dead' *Grigorjan, Naira (Armenian) 'Offcial acts of mourning' 'International reactions and condolences' *President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso, *Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, *Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, *Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, *The Pope, *Apostolic Nuncio to the Baltic countries Luigi Bonaci and Pope Francis, *The President, of Lituanua *The Prime minister and Seimas of Lithuania, *President Vladimir Putin, *Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, *The Turkish President Abdullah Gül sent their condolences To Latvia. *Latvia sent condolences to the family of the dead Arminian and the families of the 2 dead Russians. *Lithuania and Estonia declared a day of mourning on 24 November. 'Acts of mourning' The Latvian Wikipedia turned it's logo black. Several other Latvian websites, including the KUBS Ltd., put up black tinted pages and images of candles and ribbons, or put up banners expressing their sorrow and condolences. A black ribbon was also superimposed over the logo of Latvijas Televīzija during their broadcasts as well as worn by anchormen and anchorwomen. They and other television channels, along with the news website Delfi removed all adverts for three days. Maxima ordered that all its stores in the Baltic States to observe a period of mourning for three days, during which Christmas decorations would not be lit and the silly seasonal would not be played. It also stopped all its advertising and put up a official mourning page on it's website. Non the less many Latvians were upset that Maxima commercials were still being broadcast on Thursday evening and Friday morning despite the tragedy. Many sports and cultural events, including the Spēlmaņu nakts annual award ceremony were cancelled. The Latvian minister of culture called for cultural organizations, including art and music schools, to consider carefully what events would be appropriate in the circumstances and to cancel any that were too rowdy or commercial. In almost all Latvian embassies, people were allowed to write their names in condolence books and the he church welcomed people to pray for the victims of the tragedy. Representatives of Maxima Latvia expressed condolences to the families of the deceased. After an emergency meeting, the board of Maxima promised that inspections would be carried out on all Maxima stores across the Baltic States. Map A list of other earlier cases Reflist Category:Companies Category:Disasters Category:Riga